Student Co-Creation Team

 

Throughout the creation of the Choice Resource Library, our Spring 2026 Student Pedagogical Partners provided a critical perspective: student experience.

The course policies, assignment activities, group work guidelines, and alternative assessment options available in our library are tried and true as they are sourced from instructors in our Rutgers University-New Brunswick community and grounded in scholarly research.

The process of building this library was intentionally organic. Our student partners drew upon the innovative teaching strategies they had personally encountered in their time at Rutgers—specifically those that championed student autonomy. As we co-created these resources, our guiding priority was to ensure they were accessible and applicable to instructors across all disciplines.

The team also recognized that every instructor’s needs are different. Consequently, these resources vary in “implementation lift.” While some strategies require syllabus-level preparation, others are designed to be implemented immediately within a single class period.

What was most promising throughout this process was the excitement our student partners exuded when recalling and detailing the opportunities for autonomy they had experienced in their own education. Their enthusiasm further illustrates the positive effect of choice on the student experience.

Here’s what two of our Spring 2026 student partners had to say about choice in the classroom, and their experience with this project:

“Working on the co-creation team helped me realize just how important it is to give students the ability to demonstrate their learning on their own terms. My fellow team members and I came to see that having choice signals to students that they are capable of making academic decisions, that students become more invested in work they had a hand in shaping, and that barriers around accessibility can be addressed through the intentional implementation of choice. While my involvement in the project has concluded as I am graduating, I am hopeful for the future cohorts and instructors who will continue to integrate choice for their students with intention.”

– Joaquin Flores (’26)

“Working on the Choice Resource Library as a Student Pedagogical Partner this past semester was a meaningful experience for me because it helped me think more critically about how small shifts in design and the incorporation of choice can genuinely change a student’s experience and engagement. As a student, I’ve had experiences in my own classes where choice has both helped me feel a sense of ownership over my work and sometimes hindered it. Working on this co-creation project was especially insightful because we were able to brainstorm a range of options for instructors to impactfully incorporate choice into their classrooms without burdening themselves or students. We thought through different types of choices, like within the scope of assignments, final projects, or grading policies, to name a few, as well as levels of difficulty, feasibility, and potential obstacles instructors might encounter. Contributing to the creation of this resource library helped me gain a greater appreciation for how much intentional planning goes into the behind-the-scenes of offering choice that is empowering rather than overwhelming, from both the student and the instructor perspectives.”

– Faiza Shaik (’31)